Accessories are cosmetic items that users can equip and wear on their avatar character, such as clothes, weapons, and props. Roblox users can obtain accessories and other cosmetic items from the Marketplace. When joining most experiences, equipped cosmetic items load with the user's avatar character, allowing you to express yourself with a unique appearance wherever you go.
Roblox also supports classic clothing, 2D images that can be applied to your character's surface.
3D Accessories
3D accessories are either layerable or rigid cosmetics that avatar characters can wear. Layerable accessories, or layered clothing, are accessories that stretch and fit over any body shape. Rigid accessories are accessories that attach to a specific location on an avatar and do not deform or stretch. In experiences, Roblox renders all 3D accessories as Accessory objects that you can equip using character customization.
Custom accessories are first created in 3D modeling programs, such as Blender or Maya, before importing into Studio. To create a custom Roblox accessory for your own experience or to sell on the Marketplace, it's important to start with the following:
- An understanding of the components that make up an accessory.
- An understanding of the general accessory creation process.
- Review the clothing creation tutorial, a step-by-step process of creating your own avatar-ready clothing from scratch in Blender.
- Additional tools, resources, and guides provided by Roblox to standardize and expedite the creation process.
Components of an Accessory
All accessory models are made up of the same base components of a mesh object, textures, and attachment. Additional components are required if your accessory has layerable properties, such as clothing items like t-shirts, jackets, and pants.
When creating accessories, all of the components are created first in your modeling software, then converted to their appropriate Roblox Studio instance on import.
Mesh Part
All accessories require a single mesh object that represents the geometry of the accessory object. In Studio, this mesh object is represented as a MeshPart nested under a single Model
Textures
Textures are image files that define the surface appearance of your accessory. You can create textures within a texture painting program or a 3D modeling software. In Studio, textures images are imported as image assets and are set to MeshPart objects by a child SurfaceAppearance object or a MeshPart.TextureID property.
Attachments
Attachment points define where accessories attach to a character's body. For layered accessories, the attachment point is used to associate with the correct body part, in cases like dismemberment. In Studio, attachments are represented by Attachment objects.
Layered Components
When creating clothing or other accessories that need to wrap or deform around characters and existing layered assets, additional rigging and caging components are required to create the layered effect.
Rigging Armature
A rigging armature defines how a layered asset can move with a character model. Using rigging and skinning techniques, you can set the areas of your clothes to move naturally with a character model's joints, such as ensuring a shirt sleeve correctly follows the movement of the elbow and shoulder. In Studio, this rigging and skinning data is saved to the mesh geometry.
Inner and Outer Cages
Cage meshes indicate the inner and outer surfaces of a layered accessory. The inside cage of a t-shirt defines how the t-shirt stretches and fits over a character body. The outer cage of a t-shirt defines how additional layered accessories fit over the t-shirt. In Studio, these cages are represented by WrapLayer objects.
Creation Process
When designing an accessory model, you must export all of the components as a single .fbx for import into Studio.
Since 3D creation isn't a linear process and always requires reiteration and testing, the process of creating an accessory can differ between individuals and various creation workflows.
Roblox provides various resources to aid in the accessory creation process, including modeling and caging kits, reference files, validation tools, and more. Using these resources can save a lot of creation time and help creators skip complex and time-consuming processes like rigging, skinning, and testing.
Depending on the type of asset you are creating, the creation process follows these high-level workflows:
Resources
There are a variety of resources available for creators of all backgrounds to get started with accessory creation.
If you are interested in specific avatar creation topics, use the following table to find guides and resources that best match your needs:
| Topic | Resources |
|---|---|
| Tutorials | Basic Clothing Creation |
| Reference Files | Accessory and Clothing Reference Files |
| Technical Specs | .FBX Export Settings General Mesh Specifications Accessory Specifications Marketplace Policy |
| Cosmetic Creation | Accessories Overview Layered Clothing Overview Creating Face Accessories Accessory Fitting Tool Accessory Specifications Marketplace Requirements |
| Texturing | Texturing Requirements PBR Textures |
| Rigging and Skinning | Rigging and Skinning Overview Humanoid Rig Requirements Rigging Facial Bones Auto Skin Transfer Skinning Facial Bones |
| Testing and Validation | Calisthenics Tool Clothing Validation Tool |
| Publishing and Marketplace | Uploading to Marketplace Marketplace Policy Fees and Commissions |
Classic Clothing
Classic clothing assets are 2D images that you can apply to the surface of an avatar body as t-shirts, shirts, or pants. You can design these assets in any image processing software, test the textures in Studio, and then upload the designs to the Marketplace to sell. See Classic Clothing for more information on creating, uploading, and selling these assets.
